§3592 Rules of Origin for Textile and Apparel Products

Summary

The Secretary of the Treasury must write final rules by July 1, 1995 that explain how to decide where textile and clothing items come from for customs and import limits. In general, an item counts as coming from a country if it was wholly made there; if it is yarn or filament, where the fibers were spun or filament extruded; if it is fabric, where the fibers or yarns were turned into fabric; or if it is another textile or garment, where it was fully assembled from its parts. There are special cases. Some products listed under certain HTS headings must be treated like yarns or fabrics, and items knit to shape count as made where they were knit. Fabrics of silk, cotton, man-made, or vegetable fiber count as originating where they are dyed and printed if two or more finishing steps (for example, bleaching, shrinking, fulling, napping, decating, permanent stiffening, weighting, permanent embossing, or moireing) also occur there. A similar dye-and-finish rule applies to other listed HTS items, with exceptions for cotton, wool, or blends with 16% or more cotton. If origin still can’t be decided, it is the country of the most important assembly or manufacturing, or if needed, the last country where an important assembly took place. Parts cut to shape in the United States from foreign fabric and exported for assembly, then returned, are not added to the dutiable value and may count toward the percentage in General Note 7(b)(i)(B) of the HTS. Older origin rulings in force on December 8, 1994 for free-trade agreements that began before January 1, 1987 stay in effect unless changed by the parties. These rules apply to goods entered for consumption on or after July 1, 1996, except for contracts made before July 20, 1994 that meet filing and import timing conditions (file within 60 days after December 8, 1994 and enter by January 1, 1998).